SMART wins Clarke County School District’s product shootout
Leading U.S. school district standardizes on SMART Board interactive whiteboards to promote student-centered learning
CALGARY, Alberta --- May 31, 2005 --- SMART Technologies Inc. announces that Clarke County School District (CCSD) in Athens, Georgia, has standardized on SMART Board™ interactive whiteboards for its 21 schools, which serve more than 12,000 students from preschool to grade twelve. Local SMART reseller Southern Business Communications will support the district’s technology implementation, beginning with the installation of interactive whiteboards in three model classrooms. By September 2006, more than 170 classrooms will have a SMART Board interactive whiteboard and a wall-mounted projection system – moving toward the district’s overall plan to equip each of its 800 instructional units with this technology within the next three years. The National School Boards Association recently selected CCSD as one of only three school districts across the nation as a 2005 Technology Leadership Salute District, for its commitment to continuous improvement, professional development, systemic change and partnerships.
Last spring, CCSD hosted a technology summit for 85 district stakeholders, including teachers, administrators, parents, university faculty and community representatives. After examining educational priorities and emerging technology trends, the summit participants developed a top-ten list of technologies CCSD should include in future plans, with interactive whiteboards ranking number one. The district assembled a committee of teachers and administrators to outline instructional needs and make recommendations for the district technology plan. After evaluating various interactive whiteboard brands, the committee decided that the SMART Board interactive whiteboard best met the district’s instructional needs.
SMART Board interactive whiteboards will be integrated with projectors, laptops, sound systems, high-speed Internet connections and a districtwide, fiber-optic network. Using the eInstruction® classroom performance system with the SMART Board interactive whiteboard, CCSD teachers can do impromptu benchmarking and assessment tests. Teachers can capture data from oral and written questions during instruction and immediately make performance data available to the district as snapshots for each student, teacher and school.
“We believe that teacher-centered instruction does not necessarily work with kids born in the last 10–15 years; they are twenty-first century learners – digital kids who have grown up with technology in nearly every aspect of their lives,” says Dr. Virginia Jewell, coordinator of educational technology at Clarke County School District. “CCSD is moving from teacher-centered instruction to a student-centered model. Now teachers create lesson activities geared to collaborative, whole-class learning with technology that is mobile, interactive and engaging. The SMART Board interactive whiteboard puts students in control of their own learning, and that’s why we’ve made it the classroom standard at Clarke County.”
“The best thing about the SMART Board interactive whiteboard is its tactile functionality, where you can simply touch the screen with your finger to interact with lesson material. It’s very intuitive and works very well with kids,” says Paul Sims, director of technology at Clarke County School District. “With streaming video becoming a large part of lesson delivery at CCSD, being able to write over instructional videos on the SMART Board interactive whiteboard and save them to a single file is a powerful way to incorporate digital video into the classroom.”
“School districts are looking for classroom technology solutions that meet instructional needs and truly cater to various learning styles. Many jurisdictions around the world have standardized on SMART Board interactive whiteboards for these reasons,” says Nancy Knowlton, SMART’s president and co-CEO. “Clarke County has taken a thoughtful approach to integrating education technology districtwide by developing plans based on education priorities and the needs of teachers and students.”
About SMART Board interactive whiteboards
The SMART Board interactive whiteboard is a large, touch-sensitive display. Connected to a computer and projector, the interactive whiteboard is like a giant computer screen that students and teachers simply touch to operate. Using their finger or a pen as a mouse, teachers and students can access and control any computer application, file or multimedia platform, including the Internet, CD-ROMs and DVDs. They can also write over applications in digital ink, then save their work for future study and review. The SMART Board interactive whiteboard engages students with diverse learning styles by providing both immediate access to a wide range of digital materials and a common focus for the entire class – not something easily achieved with other technologies. It is the number one choice among primary and secondary school educators in more than 75 countries worldwide because the pioneering software interface captures the imagination of students of all backgrounds and abilities in order to help them learn together, understand better and achieve more. For more information, visit www.smarttech.com/smartboard.
About Clarke County School District
The Clarke County School District is a pre-K–12 public school district in Athens, Georgia. The district is made up of 21 schools and is home to 12,000 students and more than 1,500 staff. The district is known for its innovative programs, such as a four-year partnership with the University of Georgia and the Athens-Clarke County government, which brings together the resources of the community to support schools as community learning centers. Last year the district was also awarded a seventh place ranking in the Center for Digital Education and National School Boards Association’s Digital School Boards Survey for applying information technology to better engage the local community and constituents, and improve the delivery of services and quality of education to public schools. For more information, visit http://www.clarke.k12.ga.us.
About Southern Business Communications
Southern Business Communications is an industry leader in providing custom audiovisual and IT solutions. With a wide product offering, SBC is uniquely qualified to provide its clients the highest quality, best value and exceptional service for all business needs. For more information, call 1.800.849.4088 or visit www.sbcg.com.
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For more information, contact
Public Relations
SMART Technologies Inc.
1207 – 11th Avenue SW, Suite 300
Calgary, AB T3C 0M5
CANADA
403.802.2595
pr@smarttech.com
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